Super Joshua!

One of the strongest recommendations pediatricians give to new parents today is to put babies to sleep on their backs, not on their stomachs. Back sleeping is one concrete factor that has been linked to the reduction of SIDS, likely because it reduces the risk of suffocation. So that's one thing that's really been drilled into our heads -- Joshua must always sleep on his back, or he might DIE! (Gotta love the fearmongering rampant among new parents...)

A potential downside of all this time spent on his back, though, is that it may slow down some of his gross motor skills development. Back when babies were always put to sleep on their stomachs, they were more often in a position conducive to learning how to roll over and crawl. These days, some studies suggest that babies are slower to develop head control and to start scooting around -- and they're also more prone to flat heads, since their skulls, which are still soft, are more often compressed in the back.

So the solution to this potential problem is "tummy time." Our pediatricians recommend that babies be put to play on their tummies for at least a few minutes every day, to give the backs of their heads a break and to help encourage them to learn how to lift their heads.

Our little guy seems to really like tummy time -- at least, for the first five minutes or so. Then he gets fussy and wants someone to turn him around so he can see more of the world (or at least, that's my gloss on his feelings... it's perhaps more likely that he just gets tired and wants to sleep after tummy time...).

It's remarkable watching Joshua grow and develop. Tummy time in his play gym really emphasizes how much neck strength he already has -- it's not quite at the point of head control, per se, but he's definitely able to lift his head and look around when he's on his belly! He's so strong, and so advanced -- he's totally a developmental genius. :)

Think I'm just being a blindly doting mother? Well, here's photographic proof of how awesome and strong our little boy is!


Check me out, I'm totally ready to crawl!


Seriously, this passive "tummy time" is for suckers -- I'm a man on the move!


Whew! Tummy time is hard... Little help here?
It's hard to believe how quickly Joshua is growing... He's already starting to outgrow his newborn sized clothes! And while he's probably not actually going to be crawling any time soon, he's certainly starting to figure out how to work his neck and arms... Such a smart and strong little boy!

A visit from Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Eric!

Joshua is the first grandchild on both sides, so the grandparents are all excited about getting to meet him -- we've been doing weekly Skype video chats with both of our families, and we've been ordered to take and post photos as often as possible. And last weekend, my parents and youngest brother came up for a visit to meet their grandson and nephew!

It was so sweet to be able to introduce Joshua to some of his extended family. And all three of them were utterly fascinated by him! My mom brought him a ton of cute little outfits, and Eric gave him an adorably soft plush duck. And they all exercised their prerogative as grandparents and uncle to spoil the little guy, holding him at every opportunity... It's taken us several days to get Joshua used to falling asleep on his own again, but it was nice to see how much my parents and Eric loved being with Joshua and fawning over him. This little guy is so very loved!

Some of our favorite photos from last weekend:


The proud grandparents


Joshua condescending to his adoring public


Three generations, all with the exact same facial expression


Uncle Eric was so good with Joshua!


Getting a smile out of his nephew

We're so glad we were able to host you guys last weekend! And we're looking forward to introducing Joshua to the rest of our family!

Joshua's names

[Another back-dated post. We're trying to get back on top of blogging, now that we have something super interesting to blog about!]

Joshua Gordon Keddie. It has such a nice, strong ring to it, doesn't it?

Joshua's name has roots in both Scripture and family. His first name comes from the Joshua of the Bible -- specifically because of this particular verse: "...But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15b) Our hope and prayer is that little Joshua will grow up to love and serve the Lord -- that he will come to know the amazing gift of grace offered freely to him, and that he would live his life in light of the eternal hope of salvation.

In the hospital, on the day Joshua was born, we had him in our postpartum recovery room in his little bassinet, with a cute sign made by the L&D nurses with his name on it. The food services woman who delivered our lunch that day noticed the sign, and remarked on how Joshua was a strong name -- and then commented that Joshua was the one who took over after Moses in the Bible. I think I must have smiled even more broadly at that comment, because she then said it was such a blessing for a baby to be born to Christian parents. It was a sweet, unexpected moment of encouragement and fellowship for us -- and what an affirmation of our choice of his name!

We also have dear friends who had a baby boy just a week before Joshua was born. Erik and Andréa chose not to know the gender of their baby until he was born, and David and I had been half-jokingly worried that they would "steal" the name Joshua (which we had settled on about a month before Joshua was born, but which we hadn't shared with anyone). We were so excited for them when they announced the birth of their son -- and doubly so when we discovered that they had chosen the name Caleb. And when we announced Joshua's birth, they sent us a sweet email noting that with their Caleb and our Joshua, we should be able to conquer the Princeton campus for Christ in no time. :)

Joshua is also named after his paternal grandfather Gordon. David and I have always wanted to honor his father by using his name as our first son's middle name. It's also a nice way to provide a sense of family continuity -- the name Gordon has been in David's family for several generations now. And we love how Joshua fits with Gordon!

We also wanted to honor my side of the family, so we've asked my parents to give all of our children Korean names. Joshua's Korean name is Bum Soo. Soo is the generational character -- in Korean tradition, all children in a generation will have one character of their names in common. The character for each generation in a family is predetermined in a set list of some sort, handed down by the patriarchs of the family (or at least, that's how I like to think of it :)). For instance, my Korean name is Yoonjung, my brothers' are Yoonsuk and Yoonjo, and one of my paternal cousins is named Yun Pil (different transliteration, but same character). The next generation in my dad's family all have Soo in their names -- my cousin's daughter, for example, is Yeon Soo.

The Bum part of Joshua's Korean name means "tiger," which is really appropriate on a number of levels -- this year is the year of the tiger (and a special year of the tiger -- once every 60 years, apparently, it's the year of the White Tiger). And of course, we're a family of Princeton tigers. :)

We like to think that we've given Joshua a number of great name options for the future. It's likely that he'll end up going by Josh, as most Joshuas do, and we're totally fine with that nickname. But in more serious contexts, Joshua is a nice strong and traditional name. And if he wants something even more straitlaced in a professional context, he can always go by J. Gordon Keddie -- wouldn't you trust a judge of that name? :) And if he decides to embrace his Korean heritage, he has a great Korean name to go by.

But for now, he's just our cute wee Joshie-bear snuggle-bug. And I'm totally calling him that until he's old enough to protest. :)